Strings That Tie To You
by Honeeym
Summary: A collection of drabbles prompted by nine random songs - Spencer Reid and Derek Morgan through different stages of their lives.


**Drabble Music Meme Challenge**

**1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.  
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.  
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!**

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_******Strings that Tie to You **_

**One Direction – Another World**

"You never talk about him."

It sounds like an accusation that Derek welcomes, because it's the truth. Silence has become a part of their lives and it's suffocating and this is not what he wants their relationship to be.

He sits next to the teenager and sighs.

"It's not easy, kid."

Even looking at him is painful; he has so much of Spencer.

"If you don't tell me about him, then no one will and he'll be forgotten."

"He changed me," he confesses after a while. "Your dad – he took me to another world, every day in a different way. Before I met him, I thought love was just a word, and he brought it to life."

"So he helped you."

"Like he helped everybody else."

The ghost of a smile surfaces on the young face and it warms Derek's heart. But a second later, the boy sighs, taking his head into his hands.

"Maybe if I'd held him up that day—"

"There's nothing you could have done to stop it," Derek objects. "Not you, not me - nobody. It comes with the job and he wouldn't have had it any other way. What he did was incredibly brave."

Sensing tears coming up, Derek opens his arms, although he knows that, just like his father, Connor Reid-Morgan isn't exactly a fan of physical contact.

**Jay Z & Kanye West – N****s in Paris**

The probability of Spencer Reid going on an uninterrupted bar crawl in Paris were rather slight, but his best friend is the living proof that statistics are only ever numbers. They weren't supposed to be here, but the Replicator case has taken a toll on the whole team and Morgan made quite a strong case for the city of Lights.

Although he never mentioned he'd take his watch and phone from Spencer.

The young doctor is enjoying the view from their double bedroom at _Le Meurice_, one of the most expensive hotels in Paris.

"This is insane," Spencer complains as Derek exits the bathroom with loud rap music playing on his phone.

"Relax, Pretty Boy," the other one laughs. "How you feelin' about that girl who said she wanted to marry you last night?"

"I feel like she might have a worrying number of STDs," he observes. "This is debauchery, Morgan."

Derek halts his dance moves to give him a stern look.

"Hey, kid, you're not going to ruin this for me," he says. "We'll get to every museum in town during the day, but we did agree that I was sole supervisor of our nights."

"I am having a few doubts on your ability to supervise _my _fate from the bathroom stalls you insist on visiting with these girls."

**James Arthur – Impossible**

Derek glares at Hotch from behind his expensive sunshades, wondering why he always ends up working with Reid these days, when the last thing he wants to do is talk to the other man. It's hard enough hiding that they've had the beginning of a relationship, but it's even harder to fall out of love with him if he spends twenty hours a day staring at his pretty face.

It's come as a surprise that Spencer was the one to call it off. Derek thought he was strong and found himself crumbling at the other's feet – figuratively, of course – when the doctor rationalized the situation and decided it wasn't safe for either of them to pursue this.

It's his own fault, Derek told himself. If he is heartbroken now, trying to heal old, very old scars, it's because he's been careless in letting Spencer know how he felt. And now every time those two eyes made of coal meet his, he feels embarrassment like never before.

And somehow, he cherishes the feeling because he honestly thought it would be impossible for him to love a man after Buford.

**Ross Copperman – Holding On And Letting Go**

"I'll kick down the door if I have to," Derek threatens.

Within a few interminable seconds, Reid is standing there, his eyes bloodshot and empty, his hair a mess. It hurts to see him like this, but Derek is here to listen. He brings in some of the baskets Garcia drops off every day and decides he'll force them down his throat if he has to.

"I know how you feel, kid," he whispers. "And it's okay to take your time to grieve."

Reid goes back on the rug, bringing his knees to his chest.

"At some point, you'll have to let it go, though."

The young doctor shakes his head.

"I'm not saying you should let go of her, Reid," Morgan clarifies. "But you can't be like this forever."

Morgan never thought Reid could love like that, and the circumstances are peculiar, but at least now Spencer knows there's a way to his heart, although the door is closed for now.

"Why, Morgan?" a raspy voice asks. "Why did it have to be her and not me?"

Derek doesn't have an answer to that, but when Reid finally lets go and allows the tears to fall down, he holds on to him, determined to stay like this until the pain becomes bearable.

Someday, there will be another Maeve. An angel in disguise that his Pretty Boy will be too _Reid _to see and the door will be open again.

**Chris Isaak – Wicked Game**

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.

After the wicked game of love, Derek had convinced him to participate in this masquerade, and he was the first surprised that he'd managed to improve his hand-eye coordination to the point of winning a softball game.

It is one of the happiest moments of his life and he allows himself to get carried away when he jumps on Morgan's back, snaking his arms around the broad shoulders. He is _feeling _things, following the advice his boyfriend gave him.

However, when Garcia walks up to him and says that playing sports definitely brought the two of them closer, he blushes furiously.

"You know, it's not uncommon to witness such gestures between a coach and its team," he spits out. "Actually, you could say it happens at 100% of games, in both victory and defeat. It cements team spirit and proves to be essential for males to be able to emotionally implicate themselves in a public display of affection."

Derek barely contains a chuckle. Reid realizes he's said "public display of affection".

Oops.

**Angel – Wonderful**

Spencer is tired of acting like a friend with Derek all week – it's almost as if they were strangers. He's finally found someone who makes him whole and the feeling is, for lack of a better word, wonderful. So he takes an initiative like he's been encouraged to, and books them flight tickets to Las Vegas and Chicago.

They are going to be _SpencerAndDerek_ for the weekend, and he knows that'll give him strength when he has to shake hands with Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan at the BAU when they get back to work on Monday.

When they get on the plane, it's already late and it takes minutes for Derek to fall asleep with his headphones on. It's probably the most adorable thing Spencer has ever seen. Instead of reading like he usually does, Spencer looks out the window and he sees the stars, and he sees the man he loves and it's wonderful.

In his teenage years, he used to map out constellations at night and pray that he find someone who he loves and who loves him back. He never thought it would be a man, much less Derek.

This time, he prays that his mother will be having a good day, and that she'll like Derek. He's not too concerned about the Morgans, but he says a little prayer to be accepted there, too. Just in case.

**Jessie J – Do It Like A Dude**

"Stop staring at me," Reid all but barks, feeling Morgan's gaze trying to permeate his armor of silence.

His blood has been boiling ever since they got out of the car, and he wishes he'd been brave enough to ask Derek to drop him off at home.

"Spencer," Derek says. "Spit it out."

It doesn't take half a second for the words to rush out.

"I felt alien tonight," he says. "You were like this other person."

Derek doesn't bat an eyelash and Spencer knows it means he's not being bothered at all.

"Just because you like pretty drinks doesn't mean you're different," Derek finally says with a smile.

Spencer's anger flares up; his grievances aren't being taken seriously.

"But I am," Spencer exclaims. "I am different from what you made me feel tonight. I'm _not _just your co-worker and friend."

Silence.

Spencer throws his book across the room to make a point.

"Okay, you need to cool it, kid."

"I am not a kid! I am your _partner_," he continues. "And I'm not going to be sorry that I am not the kind of person who calls girls in bars 'bad bitches' just to impress their friends."

Derek's shoulders sag. He's got the message.

"So congratulations, Derek," Spencer whispers bitterly. "You were a real straight, narrow-minded man, tonight."

"Pretty Boy, don't—"

But Spencer has already slammed the door behind him, determined to walk home if he has to.

**Conor Maynard – Animal**

Derek accepts the video call from Spencer and has the surprise to find him shirtless, although it's the middle of the afternoon in Virginia. His quirks a perfect eyebrow at his boyfriend.

"Is it hot in Virginia, Pretty Boy?"

"Not as hot as it could be."

Derek smirks.

"Missing me, already?"

"Not you exactly," Spencer corrects. "I miss your body."

"What do you want to do about it?" the dark-skinned man asks, testing the waters, but already feeling a chill of anticipation running down his spine.

"I want you to talk dirty to me and have Skype sex," Spencer answers very naturally. "Needless to say, the satisfaction of my current need demands you to be an animal."

Derek chokes on his soda because when did Doctor Spencer Reid get so naughty? The change is appreciable but he'd have liked to be notified before.

"Why don't you lie back on your bed and turn off the light?" Spencer says with a smirk of his own that Derek has never been able to resist. "I promise I'll make it worth your while."

A shaky breath answers the doctor's request.

**Florence + The Machine – Breath Of Life**

When Morgan stares outside for the rest of the trip, Spencer knows that there's a choir of dreadful chimaeras singing _Look up to the sky _in his head, and he knows it's never going to be really over.

He asks for a ride home when they land, because Carl Buford has made him lonely for too long and the news of his death isn't something Derek should have to handle alone.

They drive to what he assumes to be one of Morgan's four properties.

"I'm restoring it," he explains.

The doctor nods his head and starts a sentence that ends with a palm being pressed against his chest and suddenly Derek's lips are brushing against his. It's a natural reaction in the face of death, to look for the most acute sense of life and what connects human beings more than this, after all?

Reid has spent hours thinking about this and he knows that it's what Derek needs: a touch that's different from Buford, that comes with another kind of rush. This kiss, in all of its awkward, hesitant, devouring glory, is the beginning of the end. The end of Buford's power over Derek.

The fever begins to spread when Reid finally gives in and accepts that this is the only way he can be there for Morgan – that after all these years of suppressed feelings and even after Maeve, there's still a little strength left in his heart to love.

It's the first time in too long that both of their minds are empty. The first time that "you'll be better soon" is less of a safety net and more of a reality.

Spencer drags Derek down, careful to leave the dominance to him. The dark-skinned man freezes and deliberately switches their positions.

"Wh—what are you doing?" Spencer asks, struggling to regain his breath.

Derek unbuttons his shirt as a tear rolls down his face.

"Looking up to the sky and seeing the possibilities."

fin

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**A/N: Hello, Criminal Minds fans! This is my first attempt at writing for this fandom, but please know this is my pairing of choice and I'd love to write more for them - that is, in case you like what I have to offer. Please do let me know what you think, I'm incredibly nervous.**


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